There Is No Death
by Underneaththeice
Summary: AU. The Jedi have always been told that there is no death, there is the Force. Obi and Qui find out how true that is. ObiQui slash.


Author's Note: I wrote this some years ago (probably around 4, now) as a challenge response. The idea was to write a story involving ghost!Obi-Wan, set anywhere along the Star Wars timeline. What I ended up writing was an AU to the Star Wars series, set just after The Phantom Menace.

* * *

There Is No Death 

Qui-Gon Jinn opened his eyes slowly, the blue light in his quarters beckoning to him invitingly, although the Jedi Master wanted nothing more than to sink back into sleep. In fact, Qui-Gon would have preferred eternal sleep to awakening every day without his beloved Padawan, the deceased Obi-Wan Kenobi. The man had died on Naboo fighting Darth Maul; he had been impaled by the double-bladed red light saber that the horned Sith wielded. While Qui-Gon had killed the Sith, slicing the Dark creature in half with his own green 'saber, Obi-Wan had died.

Qui-Gon startled slightly as he came back to the present, realizing that there was no blue light in his quarters as a rule. And so the Jedi Master opened his eyes to see the man whom he had not dared hope to ever see again in this lifetime: Obi-Wan Kenobi, shining with the gentle blue light of the Force. Green-grey eyes watched Qui-Gon benignly, as a blue hand reached out and touched the older man's face, comforting him.

"Obi-Wan?" the Jedi Master asked in a pensive whisper, sitting up quickly and pulling brown and silvered hair from his face. "My Padawan…"

The spirit of Obi-Wan smiled gently and moved to sit beside Qui-Gon on the bed. "You have been troubled a long time, Master. You feel that there are many things that have been left unsaid?" he asked, his voice taking on a faint echo that all those of the Force did, when appearing to those who still lived.

Qui-Gon Jinn ran a hand through his hair in a seemingly frustrated motion, drawing in a deep breath to attempt to calm himself. _How is this possible? Is the Force torturing me in some way?_ he asked silently, then took another deep breath. "Yes, my Padawan…there are many things that I was never able to say to you," Qui-Gon finally responded in a hoarse  
whisper. It was easy to imagine seeing Obi-Wan once more; it was much harder to actually see him, surrounded by the Force-light.

* * *

Qui-Gon watched helplessly from behind a red force-field as his Padawan fought fiercely with Darth Maul; he tried to reach Obi-Wan through their training bond, to tell him to fall back and wait for him. The younger man continued to fight the Sith, heedless of his Master's warning. Qui-Gon cried a second warning aloud as the Sith hit Obi-Wan with his fist, but it was too late: Maul's saber had already burned a hole through the Apprentice's chest.

It was with a roar of pure rage that Qui-Gon burst forward as soon as the red force-field fell, attacking the Sith without mercy. It was a desperate battle to keep from simply falling at his Padawan's side, but within minutes Qui-Gon had sliced Darth Maul in half. He didn't bother to watch as the dead body fell into the reactor pit…instead he sank down onto his knees at Obi-Wan's side and cradled him gently, trying to will the Force to heal his Padawan. "Obi-Wan, it's going to be alright…we'll get you to a healer, the Naboo have good healers…"

With an effort, Obi-Wan fisted his hand in Qui-Gon's tunic and shook his head, his green-grey eyes half-shut with the pain. "It's…too late for me, Master…Ana-Anakin needs you…" His voice was harsh with pain, and in response Qui-Gon held him closer, as if trying to will the pain away. "I-I lo…" But whatever else Obi-Wan was going to say was left unfinished, as the man's body jerked slightly just before his heart stopped, eyes drifting shut with the final relief of pain.

Qui-Gon could do nothing but crouch over the body of the man he loved and cry silently, blue eyes dark with pain as he held his Padawan's head against his chest.

* * *

The spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed to shudder slightly for a moment as if momentarily losing control of his image. He didn't have to breathe, but made the motion of taking in a breath nonetheless. "I don't have very long, my Master. But I seek to ease your troubles…tell me what you could not say," he murmured, placing his hand on Qui-Gon's shoulder. "I will listen…and perhaps I can help."

"I have long regretted allowing us to separate on Naboo, my Obi-Wan. I regret even more that we were not talking before the battle, and that the Sith was able to exploit our anger. It was never my intent to push you aside for Anakin; in my foolishness, I did not tell you that," Qui-Gon explained, watching the face of his Padawan carefully. "But most of all, I regret never telling you how much you meant to me…how much I love you, my Padawan."

Obi-Wan paused at that, and the light shining from him seemed to increase at least three-fold. "Do…do you mean it, Master? I've loved you since I was sixteen, and you never told me…" The spirit looked to be at a loss, looking to his still-living Master for the answer.

Qui-Gon replied with a faint smile and a sigh. "Truly, Obi-Wan, what I regret most in life is that I never told you how much I love you. As a man to another man; not just Master to Padawan. And I wish that I could go back to before Naboo and tell you," he replied, letting his hand rest on Obi-Wan's, though it felt somewhat like energy pressing against him rather than skin. But it was then that Qui-Gon Jinn of the Jedi Order began to let go; his body seemed to go limp after a time as if he was slowly dying.

Obi-Wan's spirit noticed this and moved away from his Master, speaking frantically. "Master, you cannot die! What about Anakin and Yoda? You need to train the boy, do you not?" Yet he could not help but want his Master to join him in the Force, so that they could be together. It was selfish he knew, but Obi-Wan could not help but want to be reunited with his soul mate.

Qui-Gon was slowly slipping from his body, letting his systems shut down even as he distantly heard Obi-Wan protesting. He let his shields down and spoke to his Padawan through the Force, for his body no longer had a voice. _Master Yoda is training Anakin Skywalker, not I, love. I am too damaged to train another Padawan._ The Jedi Master slipped further from his own body until all that remained was a shell of his clothing, his body seeming to have vanished as he joined the Force and his Obi-Wan.

When Yoda opened the door of his former Padawan's quarters the next morning, he was unsurprised to see the sleeping clothes of Qui-Gon laid out on the bed. The old Jedi Master had sensed the passing of his former Padawan in the night, and while sad, he knew instinctively that Qui-Gon Jinn had gone to be with his soul mate in the Force. It was sometime later when the gnarled Master left the quarters and rang the bell of mourning, letting all of the Jedi know that one of their own had passed into the Force.

Within the Force, there was laughter for the first time in a year, as two lovers came together by the blessing of the Force itself. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi became one within the Force, and there was no less joy for their having no time in the mortal world together.


End file.
